Is this job worth applying to?

Pay

Above typicalTops out at $180/hr. The typical top rate across 99 priced law listings is $120/hr.

Getting in

Some screening~30 min: resume upload + 20-min AI interview. Resume showing real experience in your field.

Steady work

Work is patchyProjects can pause or end with little notice.

Payout record

Pays on timeSchedule: weekly, every Wednesday. Paid via Stripe (Wise in a few countries).

Freshness

FreshPosted 6d ago. Still listed on Mercor on Nov 6, 2026.

Where you live

Named countries onlyOpen in United States.

The job description

About the Role Mercor is partnering with a leading AI lab to train frontier models on high-quality legal reasoning data. We're hiring US patent attorneys with prosecution and/or litigation experience for a focused evaluation project. You'll review model-generated work product on patent matters, judge its quality, and mark legal, technical, factual and citation errors directly in the materials.

What You'll Do

Review patent-related outputs (prosecution and/or litigation work product) and assess their quality against defined dimensions
Annotate inline, flagging legal, technical, factual, claim-construction and citation errors
Provide clear, well-reasoned explanations for each judgment
Complete all assigned reviews within the review window
Attend a short onboarding session before kickoff

You're a Good Fit If You

Are admitted to practice in at least one US state (active bar membership)
Have 3+ years of US patent practice — patent prosecution (drafting/prosecuting applications before the USPTO) and/or patent litigation (infringement, validity, claim construction)
For prosecution work: are registered to practice before the USPTO (patent bar, registration number)
Hold a technical or scientific degree (engineering, computer science, life sciences, chemistry, physics or similar)
Hold a J.D. from an ABA-accredited law school
Write clearly and pay close attention to detail

Bonus Qualifications

USPTO registration number (patent bar)
Experience at an AmLaw 100 firm or a leading patent boutique
Federal Circuit or district-court patent clerkship
Prior data annotation, AI evaluation or legal-benchmark experience, including prior legal AI projects with Mercor

Role Highlights

Time commitment: approximately 12–15 hours total, within a defined review window
Immediately required
You must complete all required reviews, as the project design depends on every attorney finishing the full set

How do you apply to Mercor?

Apply on Mercor

The Apply button opens this post on Mercor's own site. You apply with them, not with Rubric. Budget about 30 min: resume upload + 20-min AI interview.

Get through screening

What Mercor asks for after you apply:

Take the recorded AI video interview (practice round available)
Complete any role-specific assessment and the ID check
Accept the offer and sign the contract

Start work and get paid

Pay schedule: weekly, every Wednesday. Paid via Stripe (Wise in a few countries). You're paid for the work they hand out, not a fixed salary.

Mercor also needs

Resume showing real experience in your field
Webcam with your full face visible for the AI interview
Government ID

Red flags

Red flagLong waits with no offer after passing the interview
Red flagProjects ending abruptly with little warning

What is Mercor like to work for?

Hiring marketplace that screens professionals with an AI video interview and places them on hourly contracts training and evaluating models for AI labs.

Advertised pay	$20–200/hr
Getting in	Some screening
Application takes	~30 min: resume upload + 20-min AI interview
How you get paid	Weekly, every Wednesday, via Stripe (Wise in a few countries)
Payout record	Pays on time
Countries	Hires in many countries and runs its pay week on India Standard Time; Mercor keeps a list of locations it cannot onboard, and some projects are US-only.

Most listings sit around $50–100/hr; healthcare, legal and finance roles pay the most, language and generalist roles the least.